My twin sons, Aaron and Adam, in Alaska this past summer.
Just because a
son lives near you doesn’t mean you see him all the time. That is the case with
my middle son, Aaron. Of my three boys, he is the only one who lives local on a
sweet little farm in Fremont with Rachel and their two boys. They are an active
family, so it is no wonder I need to send him a text. “Hi, Aaron, could you
meet me at Caleo Café on Friday. I want to interview you about your traveling
experiences.” He replied with a time, and we made a date. Interesting, I
thought.
He and Rachel
were there waiting for me on Friday. I was planning to buy his coffee (since I
set up the interview), but he beat me to it and bought mine. We settled into
normal family conversations before the interview started. Rachel went shopping
as I pulled out my list of questions.
I love my three
boys as you well know. I love to write about family…they are my favorite topic.
Aaron’s twin, Adam, lives in St. Pete, and the youngster of the family (with
those four kids!) lives in Charleston, South Carolina. I have to admit I have
never interviewed either of those sons! All three live lives of adventure, but
alas, alas, Aaron is the one who is here.
“So,” I started
the interview, “when did your love of traveling begin?” I knew what his answer
would be,” That’s easy, mom, it was you.” But, oh, was I wrong. I was surprised.
Although when they were all kids, we did most of our traveling in August up to
the Upper Peninsula, a few trips to Florida and a few trips out to my Uncle in
the Adirondacks. That was the extent of their traveling, and no passports
involved.
Well, then I
wanted to know how it got started. The answer surprised me. Aaron’s first job
was teaching at a St. Pete elementary school. He loved that job, and he told me
as he started to teach about the world, he realized there was so much to see
and places he had never thought about. That’s where it started. At the end of
his second year of teaching, he sent a note to everyone in the family. “Going
to Alaska. See you in ten weeks.” What? Just like that? He packed his tent, a
few sundry supplies, his fishing pole and drove from St. Pete to Alaska. He
told me he never once stayed in a hotel or ate in a restaurant. Everything was
“over the fire.” He fished and foraged for his food each day. I guess that was
the beginning of his love affair of traveling. Sometimes he still goes alone,
but oftentimes he takes his brothers or Rachel. I asked him if he could
remember all the places. He put a list together for me: Honduras, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, Peru, St. Croix, Aruba. St. Lucia, Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, Turks
and Caicos, Cabo in Mexico. He said that he has made it to every state in the
US and every province except Nova Scotia in Canada. His list is so different
from mine, but traveling is traveling which opens your eyes to different
cultures.
I asked him
about his scariest moments. He had several. Once he was with his brothers in
the rain forest when an avalanche of water came pouring down. They took cover
behind a big bolder as giant trees fell like matchsticks. I never heard this story, and kind of glad I
had not. Another scary moment was when he ran out of oxygen while scuba diving
and barely made it back to shore. And your best moments, I asked him. His
answers, “Catching the long-lost butterfly, casting your pole into the bright
and shiny waters, watching the stars unfold in the magnificent western skies.”
I smiled at all of that. That is what he loved best as a child, and it is still
magic for him.
I asked about
future travel plans. He and Rachel are planning a long European trip in 2027 as
well as other trips along the way.
I admire him so
much. I admire his adventure spirit and that of his brothers. This past summer
he made two treks to Alaska…one with Jonah and one with his brother, Adam.
As I was
closing up my notebook, he added. “I have a big bucket list. I just want to
keep it going.” That is good advice for all of us.
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